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Finance Minister announces slight decrease in fuel prices

Government’s announcement of a reduction in fuel prices from Monday, February 1 will now see consumers paying less than GYD$90 dollars off of a gallon of gasoline at the pumps of the state-owned Guyana Oil Company (GuyOil).

In his 2016 National Budget presentation on Friday, Finance Minister,Winston Jordan also announced that the price of diesel will be reduced by less than GYD$40.00 on the gallon and kerosene also less than GYD$90.00 per gallon.

His announcement coincides with a continuing low world oil price which Thursday stood at US$33.62 per barrel. Chief Executive Officer of the Guyana Energy Agency, Mahender Sharma said Wednesday that Guyana purchases fuel at a higher than world market price from Trinidad and Tobago’s state oil company, Petrotrin.

Opposition Leader , Bharrat Jagdeo Thursday criticized government for the budgetary announcement of the lowering of fuel prices, saying that given the unstable global prices it was “not a wise” decision to include it as a budget measure. He proposed that it should have been periodically analysed to coincide with changes on the world market so that both government could benefit from fluctuating prices.

Below is a table showing the decrease in prices as announced by the Finance Minister.

Fuel

Current Retail Price/Litre ($)

New Retail Price/Gal($)

Gasoline

Dieseline

Kerosene

190

161

120

170

150

90

Finance Minister Jordan also announced that “conscious of the need to provide incentives to the manufacturing sector,in order for it to become competitive, and, as a further measure to boost incomes of households, it is proposed to increase the rebate granted by the Guyana Power and Light Company from 10 percent to 15 percent, with effect from April 1, 2016.”